Journal
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY
Volume 53, Issue 2, Pages 175-183Publisher
JOHN WILEY & SONS INC
DOI: 10.1002/dev.20510
Keywords
betamethasone; HPA axis; cortisol; glucocorticoids; stress; infant; prenatal; full-term
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Funding
- NIH [R01 HD050662, R01 NS41298]
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The objective of this study was to determine the consequences for HPA axis functioning among healthy full-term newborns of prenatal treatment with the synthetic glucocorticoid (GC), betamethasone, which is the routine treatment for threatened preterm delivery. Ninety full-term infants were recruited into two study groups (30 betamethasone treated; 60 comparison group matched for GA at birth and sex). The cortisol and behavioral response to the painful stress of a heel-stick blood draw was assessed 24 hr after birth. Full-term infants exposed to prenatal betamethasone displayed a larger cortisol response to the heel-stick procedure, despite no differences in baseline levels. Further, within the recommended window of betamethasone administration (24-34 gestational weeks), infants exposed to betamethasone earlier in gestation displayed the largest cortisol response to the heel-stick. These data add to accumulating evidence that prenatal exposure to elevated GCs programs the development of the HPA axis. (C) 2010Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 53: 175-183, 2011.
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